World Nuclear Exhibition success

Automated systems developed for handling nuclear waste materials in the UK by KUKA have attracted huge interest from utility companies in Europe.

Visitors to the KUKA Systems UK stand at the World Nuclear Exhibition in Paris were impressed by the solutions on show at the event. On display was KUKA's unique joystick control unit, which turns a standard robot into an intelligent manipulator capable of automatic routines, manually guided motion or a combination of the two.

Designed to work up to 100m away from a processing cell, the unit offers improved flexibility and better operational efficiency. It is already widely used by operators in the UK's nuclear decommissioning industry. "We took a lot of enquiries at the show, in particular, from a number of utility companies keen to learn more about our innovative solutions," explained John Dilworth, KSUK's nuclear decommissioning sales and projects manager.

The company also recently took part in an international forum and exhibition in Japan where it showcased its robotic systems to organisations involved in the clean up at the Fukishima nuclear plant. KUKA Systems UK, part of KUKA Industries, is the preferred automated systems supplier to a major nuclear decommissioning engineering, procurement and construction company and is currently involved in many major clean up projects. Its base in Halesowen is KUKA's global nuclear decommissioning centre of excellence.

Rods task for Thompson machine

A Thompson friction welding machine has been chosen by a Scandinavian manufacturer to produce hydraulic cylinder rods for mining and construction equipment. Hydroline, based in Vuorela, Finland, whose customers include John Deere and SMC, are using a Thompson PR5 model to join rods ranging from 38-120mm in diameter and up to 4m in length.

The machine is equipped with a number of features including a new, easy-adjust manual backstop, two-jaw chuck with load orientation and centring clamp. A single tool, dual axis flash removal system and a flash removal conveyor have been added as well as an enhanced HMI remote access function and quick change, non-marking tooling.